


send shivers down your spine

by yrbeecharmer



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: (mostly), College, Gen, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Happy Nico, M/M, Nico abuses his powers for jokes, Post-Canon, Pre-med Will, Saturday Night Live References, postgrad percabeth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:35:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27323590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yrbeecharmer/pseuds/yrbeecharmer
Summary: Nico's Halloween costume has Will annoyed, Annabeth amused, and Percy confused.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, background/referenced frazel
Comments: 9
Kudos: 159





	send shivers down your spine

**Author's Note:**

> for context, if you've never seen the SNL "Haunted Elevator" sketch before: [find it here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS00xWnqwvI)
> 
> I was rewatching it cause, you know, 'tis the season, and the phrase "Nico S. Pumpkins" popped into my brain, so now that Halloween is technically over (I can’t finish anything on time this semester), have some mostly-fluffy postcanon/college-era Halloween party nonsense. includes alcohol & sexual references, since, 20somethings, and very minor Tower of Nero spoilers.

  


“Wow, Will,” Percy said when they ran into him and Annabeth, “your costume is really out of this world.” 

“Thanks,” said Will, who had come as an astronaut this year. “Incredibly, I actually _haven’t_ heard that a lot yet tonight.” He smiled. “You two are adorable as always.” 

“Thanks,” said Annabeth, who was dressed as Princess Peach, and, 

“It’s a me, Mario!” said Percy, unnecessarily. The red hat and fake mustache said it all. Annabeth smiled. 

“They can see that, Percy.” 

“You know, we don’t actually talk like that,” said Nico. Percy looked at him blankly. Nico raised his eyebrows. “Italians?” 

“Suck it up, Luigi,” said Will. Nico rolled his eyes. It was the first year since Will had started college that the two of _them_ didn’t have coordinated costumes too. But Nico had been planning this for a year now, and besides—Will totally thought it was funny, even if he was being a Debbie Downer about it. 

Not to be confused with Halloween six years ago, when that had been a bigger in-joke and sixteen-year-old Will had drawn the molecular structure of Xanax on a t-shirt, put on a sticker that said “HELLO, MY NAME IS: DEBBIE,” and _actually_ gone as a literal “Debbie Downer” (“Get it? Get it? Get it?”) for Halloween. The nerd. Gods, Nico adored him. 

“How are you guys?” Annabeth asked. “Will, how’s senior year?” 

“Fine so far.” Will shrugged. “You know, grad school applications loom, but things are good.” He and Annabeth spent a couple of minutes discussing Masters programs and how different options would set him up for med school, the pros and cons of higher education in the mortal world (which was Will’s postgrad plan once he finished at New Rome), before the conversation turned to Nico. It was unavoidable, Nico knew, but it didn’t mean he had to like it. 

“And how’s… what _are_ you doing right now, actually?” Annabeth asked him, forehead creasing. 

“Oh, you know,” Nico said, deliberately vague, “stuff.” 

“And how’s stuff going?” Percy asked, eyes narrowing. 

“It’s going.” Nico shrugged, not particularly wanting to get into details. He wasn’t in college—there was no point, as he’d told everyone repeatedly, since he never planned to have a regular mortal job like his boyfriend or most of his friends. Instead he spent his days exploring the world or running errands for his father. 

He _could_ talk about the pack of cynocephali he’d taken down last week—he probably _would_ talk to Percy about it if it was just them catching up—but talking about “work” in general usually just invited nice, well-intentioned people who cared about him (like Annabeth) to start asking when he was going to settle down (and the not-so-subtle implication was _grow up_ ) already. Like somehow that all meant he _hadn’t._ He came home to Will at night—wasn’t that enough? 

“How about you guys?” he asked, steering the conversation forcibly away. “Work still awesome?” Annabeth had some new architecture contract he was sure he could get her to talk about, and if he got Percy going about marine biology… sure, all their eyes would glaze over, but at least Percy would be the one talking, not Nico. 

“Yeah, how’s wedding planning?” Will added. Oh, shit. Nico resisted the urge to jab him with a skeleton—talking about that was _definitely_ not going to be the way to avoid the whole “settling down” thing, with these two. 

It was a reasonable question, though, and probably only friendly to ask. Percy and Annabeth had finally set a wedding date for next summer. Annabeth had plenty to tell them about the whole process, and Nico had to admit some of it _was_ pretty interesting, actually. There was a reason Percy and Annabeth hadn’t gotten married right out of college the way everyone had sort of assumed they would—first, they’d had to figure out what to do about Hera. Marriage wasn’t such an easy prospect for a couple whose relationship with the goddess who ruled that domain had been… rocky, to say the least. It sounded like overcoming _that_ had involved quite the adventure. 

For better or for worse, of course, no pun intended, that wasn’t a problem most people had. Annabeth seemed to be thinking about that, eyes moving back and forth between Nico and Will as she spoke, the look on her face growing curious. But before she could fill a lull in the conversation by asking something Nico really, really did not want to have to answer right now, 

“So what’s the deal with your costume, anyway?” Percy asked him, waving a hand to indicate the whole thing Nico had put together for tonight: the pumpkin-patterned suit, the white streak Will had helped chalk into his dark hair, the reanimated skeletons flanking him. “Is there a reference I’m missing here?” 

Oh, thank the _gods_ for Percy and his obliviousness; the marriage conversation was derailed. Nico grinned. Will sighed. 

“Oh, here we go—” 

“I’m David Pumpkins, man!” said Nico in his best impression of Tom Hanks in the sketch, pitching his voice a little high and a little farther back in his throat. Annabeth laughed. Percy looked at his fiancee blankly; she just smiled. He looked back at Nico. 

“Am I supposed to know who that is?” he asked. Nico just shrugged. Percy looked at Will. “Will, can you help me out here, since neither of these two are?” 

“It’s a character from a really stupid SNL sketch,” Will explained, “that aired over a year ago, but Nico still thinks it’s the funniest thing that’s ever happened in pop culture—” 

“Because it is,” Nico insisted. 

“It _is_ pretty funny,” Annabeth agreed. 

“At least _someone’s_ on my side,” said Nico. 

“Wait, since when do you watch SNL?” Percy asked Annabeth. “Have you been watching SNL without me this whole time?” She laughed. 

“No,” she said, “but I’m on Twitter. Is he going to go through the whole sketch?” she asked Will, who nodded resignedly. “Okay.” She kissed Percy’s cheek. “Well, _I’ve_ seen it before, no disrespect, Nico—” 

“None taken.” 

“So, I’m going to go see what Hazel and Leo spiked the punch with this year.” The answer to that, Nico knew, was Fireball (the whiskey, not Leo’s literal kind)—and the “punch” was really just apple cider, since it was Halloween—but he figured he could let Annabeth find that out for herself. She walked off, leaving Percy alone and looking confused. The usual, plus a fake mustache. 

“So David Pumpkins is, what, a guy in a pumpkin suit with skeletons?” he asked. 

“David _S._ Pumpkins,” Nico corrected, “and—” 

“Oh, it’s worse than that,” Will tried to say— 

“He’s HIS OWN THING!” Nico quoted. Will just shook his head. Nico gave him a look. “Will, come on, say the next line.” 

“I’m not saying it!” 

“Will! You promised!” 

“I did not!” _That_ definitely wasn’t true, because, 

“Will!” Nico said again. “I _bribed_ you!” 

“Ugh.” Will heaved a melodramatic sigh and said, in a monotone, “and the skeletons are?” 

“PART OF IT!” Nico said on cue. 

“Okay?” said Percy after a beat. “Do they just follow you around?” 

“Oh, no,” said Nico, “this is the best part—” 

“Worst—” 

“Shut up, Solace—” Nico snapped his fingers, summoning the music spell Austin had helped him rig up to play the electronic tune. The skeletons did their little dances, and when they were done, he asked, “ANY QUESTIONS?” 

“Um, yeah,” Percy said after a beat, still looking deeply confused, “I do have some questions, actually.” 

“Okay,” said Nico, “shoot.” 

“Question one: why does Will hate this costume so much? It’s great. I mean, I’m still not sure I totally _get_ it, but the skeletons are fun.” 

_“Thank_ you!” said Nico. Will groaned. 

“It’s cause he’s going to have to sleep for like 18 hours after he spends all night wasting his powers on this,” he grumbled, “and then he’ll wake up super whiny. Especially cause he’s drinking. Have you ever seen Nico with a combination death magic _and_ alcohol hangover?” Percy grimaced, shaking his head. “Yeah,” said Will. “Me neither, and I’m _not_ looking forward to it.” 

“Oh, please,” said Nico, rolling his eyes. “I’m not going to drink enough to be _hungover,_ and three hours ago you were saying how great it’ll be to have, and I quote, ‘some godsdamn peace and quiet’ while I’m out tomorrow. Everyone wins here.” 

“Yeah, okay, rat me out.” Will shook his head, but when he looked at Nico his eyes were soft and sweet. Nico smiled at him. If there was a real reason Will didn’t like this costume—which he definitely, definitely did—in Nico’s opinion it was a combination of it not being a joint thing, and that there were skeletons standing in the way of physical affection. 

“Well, I think it’s great too,” said Annabeth, who had reappeared with two cups of punch. “What about the part where you slap their asses?” Percy, sipping his spiked cider, didn’t _quite_ do a spit-take. Still a funny sight. 

“Sorry, he slaps their asses?” he asked when he had finished coughing. 

“Unfortunately that part doesn’t work as well with actual skeletons,” said Nico. 

“Since they don’t have asses,” said Will. 

“Astronauts do, though,” Nico said speculatively— 

“Absolutely not.” Will side-stepped him before he could make that happen. Nico smiled at him as evilly as he knew how. It was dim in the party space, but he was pretty sure he saw a blush creeping up Will’s neck from under his astronaut jumpsuit. 

“Okay,” said Percy, “moving past that, question two: did you actually bribe him, and what did you bribe him with? Unless it’s sex, I don’t want to hear about that,” he added. Nico raised his eyebrows. 

“Why not?” he asked, cocking his head to one side. “Are you uncomfortable with the idea of gay sex, Percy?” Will laughed, and didn’t quite manage to disguise it as a cough. 

“—I walked myself right into that one, huh.” Percy sighed. Annabeth patted him on the shoulder in a way that looked more condescending than sympathetic. 

“Sure did.” 

“Yep.” Nico smiled ruefully—“No, I just promised to do all the dishes for the whole month of November. Your idea would’ve been smart, though.” 

“Probably would’ve gotten a better deal,” Will muttered. Nico didn’t move a muscle, but the nearest skeleton smacked his boyfriend gently in the arm. Will jumped. “Gods, don’t touch me with that thing!” 

“He had a _name_ , you know,” Nico said reproachfully, shaking his head. 

“Oh yeah?” Will crossed his arms over his chest. “What was it?” 

“William Solace,” said Nico, widening his eyes at him for dramatic effect. “Ooooooooh—” 

“Okay, _I_ need a drink now,” said Will, though he was clearly trying _really_ hard not to smile as he walked off towards the punch bowl. Nico shook his head, laughing. 

“He’ll be back,” he told their friends. “He loves this costume cause he gets to act like he doesn’t.” With Will gone, though, he waved his hand to disintegrate the skeletons. That made him feel a little lighter. It honestly wasn’t that hard to maintain them, since they were usually just kind of standing still behind him—Will really didn’t need to be as worried as he was, not that _that_ ever stopped him—but multitasking like that always was kind of an annoying little hum in the back of Nico’s head. It was nice to have it gone. 

“Aw, the skeletons!” Percy protested. 

“Yeah, you’ve already seen the schtick, though.” Nico shrugged. “Besides, they’re about 80% just to annoy Will, and now he’s not here.” Percy and Annabeth looked at each other. 

“So, speaking of weddings and marriage and stuff—” Percy said, because apparently this just was _not_ Nico’s lucky night. 

“Nope,” he cut him off. “Not having this conversation.” 

“Okay, sorry.” They all looked at each other in silence for a moment. Nico sighed. 

“ _Maybe someday,_ is the answer,” he said, quieter, “if you must know.” That was as much as he felt like he could promise right now; Will knew that, and _they_ were fine, and he really didn’t owe anyone else an explanation. But Percy and Annabeth were his friends, and they meant well, and probably, Nico figured resentfully, he should be nice. “I’m still getting used to living more than one day at a time, you know?” Percy’s face fell into a sort of rueful understanding at that, and Annabeth nodded. 

“That’s cool,” Percy said. “Live in sin as long as you want. We sure have for a while.” 

“Not _entirely_ by choice,” Annabeth pointed out, “what with the whole marriage-goddess-who-hates-me thing.” 

“Yeah. But we solved that problem.” Percy squeezed her around the waist. She smiled. 

“There’s always a loophole.” 

“And if anyone was going to find it,” said Percy, looking at her sweetly. They kissed. It looked a little awkward with the fake Mario mustache, and Annabeth pulled away laughing. 

“Well,” said Nico, unperturbed, draining the last of his punch, “it’s great to see you guys, but I should _probably_ go find my sister and her parrot.” 

Hazel and Frank were doing their thing they did some Halloweens, where Hazel was a character and Frank was that character’s animal companion. They didn’t do it every year—sometimes they did more normal couple costumes, both humans, the same way their friends usually did. But in the spirit of the spooky season, this version did always have the extra benefit of freaking bystanders out when the witch’s black cat, or Velma’s Scooby-Doo, or, this year, the pirate queen’s parrot, suddenly turned into all six-feet-four-inches of Praetor Zhang on his way to go attend to some party business. 

“Yeah, the parrot’s pretty great,” said Percy. 

“The parrot says thanks,” said Frank, appearing behind them as his whole tall human self. “Hey, Nico. Hazel was wondering where you—” 

“Yeah. Perfect.” Nico nodded. “I’ll go find her.” So he did. 

“Where’d the skeletons go?” Will asked some time later when he came and found him again. He slid onto the couch where Nico was sitting alone, Hazel having been called away to greet someone. On his third drink now, Nico was a little slow on the uptake. 

“Oh, I can bring them back—” 

“No, don’t,” Will protested, wrapping him in a hug so there wouldn’t be enough room on either side for the skeletons anyway. Nico smirked—so he had been right about Will’s real issue. 

He did bring the skeletons back a few times as the night wore on, to show people the full extent of the costume and go through the whole joke. Percy and Annabeth turned out to be a good sample—about half their friends got it, the other half were confused but liked the vibe of the thing. But though Nico would never admit it, Will had a point. After a couple hours, the skeletons started to get draining. And it probably _was_ worse with the alcohol. Not to mention the party itself—big social events like this still weren’t Nico’s favorite thing in the world. 

But what he figured _Will_ would never admit was that it was all totally worth it. 

New Rome wasn’t much of a Halloween town. It wasn’t a Roman holiday, so there weren’t big community traditions around it the way there were at, say, Camp Half-Blood, where the kids had all spent at least _some_ formative years in the regular mortal world. It was also two in the morning by the time the party died down, so on the way home the streets were dark and silent. 

Will was two drinks more sober than Nico, so Nico let him drive, so to speak—just kind of hung onto his hand as Will guided them home. They had a hard agreement against shadow travel under the influence after what happened the one time Nico had ever tried it, and besides, the brisk night air was kind of nice. 

“Are we good?” Nico asked when they were safely inside and getting ready for bed. Well, Will was getting ready for bed—Nico was just kind of sitting on the bed, watching him, too tired and disoriented to move. It wasn’t going to be eighteen hours, but he certainly wouldn’t put money on waking up before noon. Will glanced at him. 

“Of course we’re good. Why wouldn’t we be good?” 

“You’re not sad cause I’m still bad at planning ahead and commitment and stuff?” 

“Is this about all that about Percy and Annabeth getting married?” Will asked, eyes narrowing. Nico shrugged. “Well, no. You’re not actually bad at those things at all.” Now Will smiled and sat down next to him to start undoing his tie for him. “I know cause it's been seven years, and you’re here.” He tossed the tie somewhere, then helped Nico out of his jacket. 

"I love you," said Nico. 

"I know," said Will; again, the nerd. Nico pulled open the top two buttons on his shirt before he decided to give up on that. Once his belt and shoes were off, that was good enough—he could sleep comfortably in the clothes he had on. Time to collapse. 

“You liked this costume,” he asserted sleepily as Will crawled under the covers next to him. “You can’t fool me.” 

“Yeah, I did.” Will ran his fingers through the white chalk over Nico’s forehead and made a soft noise of distaste in his throat. “I _don’t_ like that this is going to get on the sheets.” 

“I’ll do all the laundry, too, not just the dishes.” 

“I’m not going to hold you to that—” honestly Nico doubted he would even hold him to the dishes thing, either, definitely not for the whole month—“but you’re sweet.” 

“Am not.” 

“Yes, you are.” Will turned the light off and leaned over to kiss Nico’s forehead. “You’re sweet, and you’re funny, and you’re exactly as good at commitment as I need you to be. And,” he added, “you’re going to be _so_ whiny tomorrow.” 

“Yeah.” Nico stretched, then snuggled against his shoulder. “You’ll make me coffee, though.” 

“Only if I get to say I told you so.” 

“Okay,” Nico murmured. In the last seconds before he fell asleep, he could hear the smile in Will’s voice as he said, 

“Happy Halloween, Nico S. Pumpkins. I love you too. Any questions?” Faintly, Nico smiled too. 

“None.” 

  


**Author's Note:**

> @yrbeecharmer on tumblr also.


End file.
